How do I start a pastoral fellowship in my city or town?

The May/June 9 marks e-journal just came out on the need for pastors to be working together with other local churches and pastors outside their own. I was asked to write an article for it on our pastoral fellowship we started here in Louisville 2 years ago that now has between 50-60 pastors involved. Here is the introduction of that article:

Discouragement seems to be an epidemic among pastors today. This stems from many factors, one of the most common of which is loneliness. Pastors are notorious for isolating themselves in their churches and ministries. As a result, they are continually tempted to think they are the only ones who face the pressures and demands of the ministry.

The antidote to much of this discouragement can be found in deliberate and purposeful fellowship with other pastors. Not just any pastors, but likeminded pastors. Fostering this kind of fellowship was our aim when a pastor friend and I started a pastoral fellowship about two years ago, which we now call the Pastoral Fellowship for Practical Theology. In this article I will explain how we started this fellowship, who we intend to bring together, what we hope to accomplish, what our meetings consist of, and what fruit we’ve seen so far.

To read more, click here to access the rest of the article. You will also find a variety of helpful articles in this most recent issue that I would encourage you to read and consider.

I would also love to hear from pastors (comments section) who have started something similar where you live and minister. How is it going? What fruit have you seen from it?

2 comments on “How do I start a pastoral fellowship in my city or town?”

My husband has been a part of a fellowship of evangelical pastors from our county for a few years now and it’s been a great blessing to him in so many ways. He has been able to get to know many other churches and pastors in our area, pray for them, be prayed for and they all have been able to share in joys and sorrows. It has fostered an “us” mentality rather than a “me” and “them” mentality and it’s been great to see. Recently we had a couple leave our church over something that we had no control over and when my husband spoke to them, he was able to recommend another excellent church near them. They went to that church and were thrilled – it was just what they needed and they were able to plug in pretty quickly. Without this fellowship, my husband wouldn’t have known much about any of the churches around here!!!

Additionally, the pastors’ wives try to get together with some regularity to be able to pray for each other and for our husbands. That’s been an incredible ministry in itself!